Texas Tech coach tells players: Stop tweeting

In the future, if the Texas Tech Red Raiders want to tweet, they must be more discreet.

Better yet, if they value their football scholarships, they probably should just quit using Twitter altogether.

Tech coach Mike Leach said Monday that he is barring his players from using the popular social networking site.

“I think a guy who plays college football gets enough attention,” Leach told reporters in Lubbock. He called social network users “a bunch of narcissists that want to sit and type stuff about themselves all the time.

“We’ll put mirrors in front of their lockers if that’s necessary but they don’t have to Twitter.”

Leach’s comments came two days after the Red Raiders lost their second game in a row and one day after one of his players posted a tweet, claiming that the coach was late to a meeting, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.

According to the newspaper, senior linebacker Marlon Williams mused on Twitter why he was in a meeting room “when the head coach can’t even be on time.”

Leach said on the Big 12 teleconference that “anybody that’s a malcontent doesn’t stay around here very long. I’ve got a pretty good line of recruits who are fully willing to replace him. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t have a Twitter page any more.”

Leach wielded his disciplinary paddle on Sunday, suspending offensive tackle Brandon Carter indefinitely for an unspecified violation of team rules.

Carter, considered as one of Tech’s best offensive linemen, revealed on Twitter that he had been suspended, the Avalanche-Journal reported.

Leach wouldn’t say why Carter was disciplined or how long he might be off the team.

“What he needs to do to get back is pretty much between me and him,” Leach said on Monday’s teleconference.

Asked by another reporter if Carter could return to the team this season, Leach declined to comment, referring the media to his previous answer.

Subsequently, the coach was told that he had not clarified how long Carter might be away from the Red Raiders, and was asked again for an answer.

“Based my response (to the earlier question), what makes you think you’d get a different one?” Leach asked.

Texas Tech (2-2) plays New Mexico at home on Saturday.

The Red Raiders, in the national title hunt for much of last season, have lost consecutive road games to Texas and Houston.

Houston beat Tech 29-28 on Saturday night in Houston, executing a 95-yard drive to score the winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining.